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| Sunday, 25 May 2003 |
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Ran Etana: The tale of a trail blazing woman goldsmith by KAREL ROBERTS RATNAWEERA
Nowhere in the history of the world is it on record that a woman ever made a monarch's regalia but we can claim this unique achievement. One time Director of Archaeology, H. W. Codrington, in British times in a paper presented at a meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society in the twenties, said: For all the kings till the arrival of the Tooth Relic, the crown was made by the smith of the Sirit Paramparawa. That of King Parakramabahu was made by Abo Panditiya. In process of time, none of his descendants were left save one woman and a girl aged seven; the woman came forward and made the regalia. Afterwards her son aged five years was entrusted at the Royal command to the Terunnanse and on completing his education was given the name Abo Panditiya. He and his descendants made the regalia for the Polonnaruwa kings.
When Mahalu Parakramabahu made an announcement that he would reward anyone who helped to identify the descendants of the smiths who came from India in the Royal entourage bringing the Bo sapling to Lanka, a woman had come forward and claimed the reward. She was a direct descendant of the royal smiths who arrived in this land on that distant day with the Emperor of India's daughter who had given up her royal heritage to become a bhikkhuni. The woman who made the regalia blazed a trail for other women of her Navandanno caste who, to this day, practise their profession as jewellery designers, painters, sculptors and workers in precious metals, although no woman followed her ancestor to make another regalia, and it is highly unlikely that Sri Lanka will ever have a monarch again! However, history does take funny twists and turns sometimes, besides repeating itself, and in the most unlikely event of us ever becoming a monarchy again, there's always the ready-to-use regalia in the National Museum. The women of this particular caste are styled Nachchire or Nachille, Codrington says in his paper. They are also called Etana by their inferiors, Codrington continues. The woman Dutugemunu met in the hills of Kotmale was Ran Etana. It is a moot point whether these brilliantly gifted women with the blood of royal artists in their veins would have made any of the jewellery the island is famous for, but it is possible that they did. A visit to Nattaranpota in Kandy will show you the women sitting side-by-side with the menfolk adding their skills, especially of jewellery design, as they make the fine jewellery which foreign tourists go all the way to see and buy as well.
Codrington says that a Sannasa was granted by a king in the Sakyan era (1705-1803) to one Eldeniya Rajakaruna Devasurendra Manuwira Vikrama Siritkaralna Arassarana Sri Dantadhatu Makaradhawaja Bhuveneka Bahu Abisheka Vijasinga Vichitra Chitra Karmanta Nermitta Sakala Silpatilaka Navaratne Mudali Daawunda Sippachriya, for services during the British disturbances. Direct descendants of this Eldeniye Rajakaruna are to be found to this day in Sri Lanka bearing family names such as Devasurendra, Navaratne and Manuwira. After creating the regalia which also includes rings, bracelets, chains and other personal ornaments besides the throne and crown, to make the jewellery that has come down to our families would have been child's play for the women of the caste. When President J. R. Jayewardene was invited to attend the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the President took with him to London Sri Lanka's official wedding gift to the Prince of Wales and the new Princess of Wales - an exquisitely hand-carved, pure silver tea set and tray. The silversmiths - two young men from a village in Kandy told me that they had only two weeks in which to make the gift. This writer felt privileged to sit at the table at President's House with JRJ at the head and the two master craftsmen explaining their work which they completed in double quick time.
They were direct descendants of the ancient gold and silversmiths who were in the king's service, they told me, and invited me to visit their homes in the village off Kandy. Unfortunately, it was not possible to make the trip at that time. At a glittering exhibition of jewellery a few years ago at the Colombo Hilton, this writer talked to some of the master craftsmen whose work was on show. One, Weddegala Achari lamented the fact that some of the younger generation of traditional artists and craftsmen were taking up other occupations instead of continuing their great tradition. This was because they did not receive enough support to carry on their traditional occupation. A well-known Colombo jeweller said that it could be seen from the Sigiriya frescoes that jewellery was worn even in the early days of the island's history. Very little is known about the jewellery worn in pre Buddhist times, but the jeweller said that threaded gold jewellery would probably have been worn. During the Lambakanna dynasty which included King Mahasena who built great tanks, and his brother Jetta Tissa who was a carver in ivory, women of the dynasty wore large hoop earrings, somewhat like the hoops that are in vogue now and which are worn by all dynasties. |
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